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Pickled watermelon rind is a popular dish in Southern American cuisine, but also exists in Eastern European and Asian cultures. Recipes vary in spices and herbs used, and involve peeling off the green exterior and removing the flesh. Sweet pickles are common in Southern-influenced recipes. The rind can be cut into spears or cubes and soaked in a saline solution before pickling. Homemade pickled watermelon rind is preferred by many.
Pickled watermelon rind makes great use of what many of us simply throw away, which are the rinds left over after eating pink or yellow watermelon fruit. While many identify this delicacy with Southern American cuisine, recipes for this unusual pickle exist in many cultures. In particular much of Eastern Europe and Asia have recipes for pickled watermelon rind. In the United States, however, we’re more likely to think of this dish as Southern food.
There are many recipes for pickled watermelon zest. Much of this variation centers around the different spices and herbs used to add flavor in the pickling process. Potential spices, herbs, and other flavorful elements include allspice, cinnamon, cloves, dried red chiles, fenugreek seeds, ginger root, mint, mustard seeds, tamarind extract, and turmeric.
Most recipes call for peeling off much of the green exterior of the rind as some of them do not soften properly and can make pickled melon rind difficult to chew. The flesh of the melon also requires removal. Indeed, in order to consume the food as much as possible, the flesh of the watermelon should be cut before pickling.
Recipes that draw influence from Southern cooking tend to make for sweeter pickles. These would be similar in sweetness to sweet cucumber pickles commonly sold in stores. They usually combine white or apple cider vinegar, sugar, water, and spices like cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Some recipes suggest using green or red food coloring, but that’s a matter of preference. If no food coloring is used, the peeled rinds are white to yellow in color and have a translucent appearance when pickled.
There are several tips on how to cut the watermelon rind. Some people recommend cutting them into spears. Others recommend cutting the zest into cubes. Cubes can be a little easier to process and pack in jars. Many recipes also advise soaking the peel overnight in a saline solution before decapitating it. Common suggestions include boiling the watermelon in salted water and adding the other pickling ingredients. Once the fruit has a translucent appearance, it is packaged in sterilized jars.
For those wary of the canning process, pickled watermelon rind can be purchased at stores. It might be a little difficult to get it in areas of the world where the dish is not common, however online options are also available. Many people who make their own pickled watermelon rind, however, claim that homemade is definitely the best.
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